Israeli controlled media to blame for biased image of Palestinians and Arabs

http://www.ccmep.org/2002_articles/Israel-Palestine/072602_ugly_truth_about_israeli_terrorism_is_blurred_by_bias.htm

Who was the child whose arm dangled
lifelessly from the side of the gurney
carried from the rubble of several
apartment buildings destroyed in the
terrorist attack Tuesday?

She was among at least eight children
and five women killed, and 140
civilians injured during the devastating
early-morning attack.

I expected to learn the next day more about these
victims. Not just a name, but their ages. Their lives. The
personal side of their tragedy.

But then I realized the victims are Palestinian, not
Israeli, so their personal details don't get reported in this
country. Instead, these eight children disappear into a
cold chart of statistics.

The numbers are available on the Web site of the
Palestine Red Crescent Society
(http://www.PalestineRCS.org), which, like the Red Cross,
struggles against great restrictions to provide medical
services to Christians and Muslims victimized by Israeli
terrorism.

Among the statistics in this attack from an Israeli-flown,
American-made F-16 fighter jet firing an
American-made missile: 240 families left homeless,
three apartment buildings destroyed and 20 buildings
around the complex heavily damaged.

With only a few exceptions, Palestinian victims are
portrayed to Americans as nameless, faceless
non-human statistics. In sharp contrast, Israeli victims of
Palestinian terrorism or those killed in clashes with
Palestinians resisting Israeli attacks are portrayed in the
most human terms possible.

To me, they are all human. They are all victims. I grieve
for all of them, Palestinian and Israeli. And unlike many
of my Israeli and pro-Israeli friends, when the tables are
turned, I have often publicly denounced Hamas terrorist
attacks that have resulted in innocent civilian deaths.

Palestinians like me don't fit into Israel's PR strategy,
which prefers the American media focus on extremist
images and rhetoric.

More offensive to me, though, are the comments of
Israeli government officials who are always the first to
denounce every incidence of violence involving an
Israeli - including those they provoke through
extremism.

The morality they throw tugs at our hearts as images of
Israeli victims are splashed across American news
reports and front-page headlines. Israel's "spin" is often
picked up by commentators.

When Israelis "assert" they sought to assassinate an
"alleged" Hamas "terrorist leader," and brush aside the
Palestinian women and children as "unavoidable
collateral damage," everyone just accepts the excuse
because it is politically correct.

Salah Shehada has been walking around the Gaza Strip
for years. It's not like he was hiding. The Israelis could
easily have apprehended him, if the charges are really
true. Killing him means allegations will go unchallenged.

Worse, the "spiritual leader" of Hamas had announced
days before that Hamas was weighing a halt to suicide
bombings.

Truth doesn't seem to be a priority in how Palestinian
victims of Israeli terrorism are targeted for
"extra-judicial" assassination, or how they are portrayed
to the American public.

I understand why some Americans disagree with my
views. They don't know the truth and often only get half
the picture.

Israel's government is headed by Ariel Sharon, who
sparked the current violence 22 months ago when he
went to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to spout anti-Arab
hatred. Sharon plagiarizes from President Bush's
speeches and openly exploits post-Sept. 11 American
anguish.

It's shameful.

Sharon wants to provoke Palestinian violence because
it plays into his long-term agenda to take more Christian
and Muslim Palestinian lands.

Sharon doesn't want peace with the Palestinians. He
wants peace without them.

http://www.ccmep.org/2002_articles/Israel-Palestine/072602_ugly_truth_about_israeli_terrorism_is_blurred_by_bias.htm